Yes, your insurance, (homeowners or renters, you are responsible and spend the like 75 bucks a year for renters insurance, right?) will take care of it, which is why direct tv will bill you. If they did not, anyone who wanted to get out of any contract ever could just make up some sob story, and companies would then have to play detective on everything.

Koodz:At least they let him cancel. I remember Verizon charging me $200 to cancel my father's cell phone even after I brought them a copy of the death certificate.

Why shouldn't they? They are no different than any other creditor, be it a credit card, a mortgage, whatever, that the estate is OBLIGATED to pay out. Had your father died destitute, or had mr burnt dish mcdish been destitute, there are procedures in place to essentially say, "hey, we got nothing left to pay you with" to disolve the debt.

Lets say your dad owed 100k on his mortgage. Should the bank just say, "wow, sucks he is dead, we will forget about the 100k he owed us, enjoy the house!"